Oh We're Still So Young, Desperate For Attention
by imtakingallyoudownwithme
Summary: Fred WeasleyxOC story. Carly is in a relationship with Percy Weasley, the boring one of the Weasley family. What happens when she's after something a little more fun, in the form of his younger brother? Rated T for now. Slightly AU as Fred is still alive after the Battle of Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

Obviously this is slightly AU, as Fred doesn't die during the Battle of Hogwarts. Nothing else I really have to add at the moment. The first half is in the original character's point of view, whilst the second is in Fred's point of view. The story will be mostly in the original character's point of view, but sometimes it will be Fred's point of view. I won't make it trashy, I promise.

* * *

I'd never had a real boyfriend before I met Percy Weasley. Well, I had. But nothing of the serious sort. No spending copious amounts of time around families, no thinking about moving in together, and the "L" word had only been dropped once, and in hindsight it wasn't even true feelings.

To be fair, it still applied now. I was now only at the tender age of twenty-one, had only been seeing Percy for a couple of months, so the "L" word and moving in were definitely out of the question. I had never met any of his family, but that was about to change.

Percy was building a career in the Ministry of Magic, which is where we met. I'm a law student, and was accompanying a high profile lawyer in the courtroom at the Ministry when I first met Percy.

It was my first court case. In the third year of studying to be a wizardry lawyer you needed to shadow a lawyer for half a year, working like an intern or traineeship. The tasks they had you complete were completely up to them.

I was shadowing Colin Griffiths. He was a well-known lawyer in the industry, and was very picky with his cases. He did both civil and criminal cases, but mostly civil. He was famous for taking on cases where a big entity had done the wrong thing by the little guy. If I did this right and managed to stay with Colin Griffiths for my entire internship, my career would automatically be set.

Which is why I was shockingly nervous on this first day. I had a clipboard in one of my hands, and was nervously pacing up and down outside the courtrooms. I was early, very early but I wanted to ensure I had the correct courtroom.

"Excuse me miss, can I help you?" I heard a voice ask me.

I turned around to see a male a little older than me, smiling slightly at my discomfort.

"Oh, um, is this court room twenty two?" I asked him, nervously tapping my shiny heels to distract me from this awkward situation. I felt like an idiot for asking, I felt shy that I was talking to a complete stranger and I was mostly nervous about this case.

"It is, yes. You're quite early though; the first cases begin at ten o' clock." The stranger stated to me, his amused smile turning into a worried frown.

It was now my turn to smile, I still felt a little awkward but my worries about the case began to melt away as this conversation was distracting me.

"Ah yes. I underestimated myself, you see. This is my first visit to the ministry. I live in a flat within walking distance to here, but I didn't realise the way down, or the security clearance would be so quick. I was planning on being quite early though, so I still achieved my goal." I explained to the stranger.

"As fate would have it, should you believe in fate, it appears I'm early too. Would you like to go for a coffee? There's a very nice café located on the seventh floor. I can guarantee I'll have you back here well before your case." The stranger offered, sending me a comforting smile.

"Well, I'd like to believe in fate. It's a comforting thought to think that everything happens for a reason. I'd love to accept your invitation for coffee but first I must ask, what is your name?" I curiously asked the stranger, cocking my head to one side out of habit.

"My name is Percy Weasley. I work in the Department for Magical Transportation. I must ask the same question, who are you?" Percy asked me. Such a blunt question would usually be interpreted as rude, however the warm smile on his face and blatant curiousity showed that he was interested, and not trying to be blunt at all.

"That's quite interesting Mr Weasley. I'll save all questions for our coffee date. My name is Carly Donovan and I'm currently studying Wizardry Law, so I'm undertaking a six month internship." I introduced, offering my hand for Percy to shake, which he did in a firm manner, but ruined any professionalism by having a smile on his face.

Percy and I now manage to have a laugh at that coffee 'date' as we put it. It built the foundations on which our relationship now stands on, but things feel so different now we're more comfortable around each other.

It turns out that Percy wasn't coincidentally early that day. The head of his department was holidaying around America, so he was left in charge. His workload was immense, but he would receive a nice bonus once his manager returned. He went into work early to get through some of his workload but in his words 'I couldn't skip the chance to take a stunningly gorgeous woman such as yourself out to coffee' of course he only revealed this to me recently.

But now we were taking our relationship to the next level. Percy wished for me to meet his family. His family was very large. This made me just as nervous as I was at the first court case I shadowed.

I had met a boyfriend's family. Once. And we were together for two years. Obviously it didn't go down too well – they were muggles (Not that there is anything wrong with that – but there was a culture difference) and thought I was a 'snob', which made me nervous. Percy had told me that his family didn't have a lot growing up, would they think I was a snob as well?

But I had to grin and bear it. I saw the relationship that Percy and I possibly blossoming into a serious relationship. That meant I'd have to meet the family at some point, and it was probably best sooner than later.

* * *

As George and I apparated into our old residence, no attention was paid to us, as chaos was everywhere. Mum was rampantly cooking in the kitchen, who was yelling at Dad to set the tables and get everything ready.

Victoire, my niece was screaming in the living room, making Bill and Fleur pre occupied with trying to calm her. Hermione and Ginny were also cooing over the newest addition to the Weasley family.

George and I shared a look as we approached Ron and Harry, knowing how to make our presence now known.

"Good luck you two." I smirked at them both.

"W-what do you mean?" Harry stuttered, giving George and I an odd look.

"They're getting clucky. They're going to want marriage and babies soon." George teased, whilst I hummed the tune of 'here comes the bride'

"Oh hush you two! They're girls. Girls go crazy over babies. It's built into their minds or something!" Ron whined, his ears going pink from the embarrassment.

Upon hearing our teasing, Percy stuck his head in the doorway. He gave George and I a dirty look as he beckoned us into the quieter entrance foyer.

I smirked as I trotted into the foyer, George hot on my heels.

"You two are not to do anything to embarrass me, or make this situation bad, got it? I happen to have very deep feelings for this woman and I can see this relationship having a long course." Percy scolded us, and I wrinkled my nose in distaste for this lecture.

"Yes sir." George loudly stated, giving Percy a salute, to which Percy replied with a dirty look.

"Fine. No light comedy to create a good mood. Make her think we're all boring twats. See if we care." I shrugged.

Before Percy could scold my choice of language there was a small tap on the door. Percy immediately froze, before quickly bounding into the lounge room.

"Can one of you make sure everything is ready to go? My girlfriend is here. I need to greet her." Percy asked.

I heard everyone scurry away to the kitchen, with the exception of Fleur and Bill who carefully carried Victoire away. I chose to lean in the doorway with a good view of the front door, smirking as I crossed my arms across my chest. I was amused, I was curious to see what Percy would date this time.

Penelope wasn't a bad looker. But at the same time, she wasn't amazing to look at either. She was plain – the kind of girl you'd expect Percy to date. Plain and boring.

I chuckled to myself as I watched him compose himself before answering the door. He definitely did have it bad. I loved my brother and wouldn't ever purposely jeopardise this relationship for him. But I'd sure as hell tease him about it later!

After straightening his clothes he answered the door, and as they hugged each other I scowled, as I couldn't see her properly.

Percy finally moved out of the way and I finally got a good look at her. She was cute, but very prim and proper looking which took away from her attractiveness.

She had honey hair, which was obviously coloured from a darker natural hair colour. She had a white business shirt on, with a light pink blouse over it with some prestigious muggle brand's tiny logo stitched onto her chest. She also had on a waist high pin striped skirt, which went to her knee, and a white headband on her head. It was made very apparent why Percy was going for her.

Credit where credit is due, she had amazing eyes. They were large and bright blue. They were bright and went well with her features, and they really helped with the look she had going on, as they looked so innocent.

Definitely a step up from Penelope, but the prim and proper look she had adopted just did not suit her at all.

As she stepped into the hallway she then noticed me. She sent me a smile, and then I added something to the 'pro' list of her looks. She had a nice smile. A perfect set of pearly whites, plus her actual smile added to her cuteness.

"Nice to meet you…Carly. I'm Fred, Percy's younger brother." I said to her, pausing a little as I almost forgot her name as I offered my hand.

"Thank you for the warm greeting and it's lovely to meet you." Carly smiled, directly towards me again.

Percy looked pleased at my first impression towards Carly, and even gave me a friendly pat on my shoulder as they passed by me, making their way towards the rest of the family.


	2. Chapter 2

After meeting Percy's brother Fred, Percy ushered me into their empty living room.

"If this gets too overwhelming for you, just let me know. Okay?" Percy asked me.

I just nodded and snuggled myself into his chest as he engulfed me into a hug. To be honest I was feeling overwhelmed. To meet your significant other's family is one thing, but the whole extended family? Yeah, awkward. All these people were gathered just to meet me, and I'd be the centre of attention. To some this would be heaven, but I wasn't that kind of person. I was shy.

"It may not comfort you, but I can assure you that they're all lovely people who are very interested in meeting you." Percy stated to me.

"How do they usually take girlfriends?" I asked Percy curiously.

"Well um…it depends. Mother and Ginny didn't initially take a liking to Fleur as far as I know, but you must remember this was during dark times. Hermione was a little different as she had been Ron's best friend for years; same with Harry he was already part of the family. If we add them all together we can say the average is that they'll like you?" Percy stated, adding a small joke at the end to which I only gave a weak smile.

"What do you mean 'as far as you know' they didn't like Fleur? What kind of things did they do?" I asked, panic beginning to rise in me.

"You know what? Let's not discuss this. It's just making you worry a lot more. Come on, let's go into the kitchen, it's just mother and possibly father in there right now. Baby steps, you've already met Fred, one down." Percy said to me, putting his arm around me to usher him into the kitchen.

I sent him an odd look, but didn't press on. It was quite strange he quickly moved on and wouldn't elaborate about how his mother and Ginny treated Fleur, but it made sense. It probably would have just freaked me out a little more.

As we stepped into the kitchen, Percy dropped his arm from my back. But I wasn't without human interaction for too long, as his mother had grabbed me into a hug before I could even properly see what she looked like.

She let me go and put her arms on my shoulders.

"Carly dear, you're so pretty! Oh, my name is Molly and it's lovely to meet you. Percy you didn't tell me how beautiful she is. Oh Arthur come here! Look how gorgeous she is!" Percy's mother said, calling her husband to the kitchen.

He appeared, and offered his hand.

"I'm Arthur. It's nice to finally meet you, you've been the topic of everybody's discussion for quite a while." Percy's father said, introducing himself.

"Oh um, I'm glad to finally meet everyone then if everybody's been talking about me." I nervously stated, adding a nervous laugh at the end.

"Percy says you're studying at university whilst doing an internship. That must be interesting." Arthur stated to me.

My cheeks began to turn rosy and I looked down, a little uncomfortable with the attention. Just his parents giving me attention was making me nervous, how would I go about meeting the entire extended family?

"Beauty and brains, you've got yourself a good one Percy. Make sure she doesn't get away." Molly said to Percy, giving him a wink.

I was now very uncomfortable. It was great that they were thrilled at the first impression and seemed to already like me, but this attention was undesired.

My social status was good; I wouldn't be shy about that. If I had a son who was dating a wealthy law student doing an internship with England's most famous and sought after lawyer I guess I'd be happy too. But I'd wait to see if she wasn't a bitch or a psycho or something. For all she knows, I could know my social standing and expect Percy to wait on me hand and foot because I think I'm better than him, or other crazy stuff like that.

"Why don't you both take a seat at the dinner table outside, it's a lovely day today so we decided to hold the celebration outside. Percy could you please ask Ginny, Ron and maybe Fred and George to come to the kitchen to help serve the food." Molly asked Percy, who once again put his arm around me to lead me through the house and out the back door where there was a long table.

There were people everywhere. Luckily not everybody was sitting down, so I'd be able to go and mingle with different groups in order to meet everyone.

"Come on, let's do the rounds." Percy said to me, kissing the top of my head and grabbing my hand. We made our way over the younger ones of the group who were sitting in the grass, laughing and joking.

"Fred, George, Ron and Ginny, mother has called you all inside to help her transport the food from the kitchen to the table. But before you go inside, this is Carly my girlfriend." Percy introduced me.

George, Ron and Ginny all mumbled greetings whilst one of the twins gave me a nod. I assumed that one was Fred the one I met before, so I just gave him a nod back.

"I guess I'll talk with you guys later?" I awkwardly asked as they all shuffled in, only receiving a wink from each of the twins.

I looked at Percy with a bit of uncertainty as he just squeezed my hand in reassurance.

"The remaining two have been family friends since their first year in Hogwarts. Hermione is now Ron's girlfriend. This young man here is Harry Potter, yes THE Harry Potter, who is also my sister's boyfriend." Percy introduced, as both Hermione and Harry stood up.

I watched Harry and smirked a little, as he looked as uncomfortable as me. He was watching me carefully; trying to predict what reaction I'd have after meeting a celebrity.

"It's nice to meet you both. I'm Carly." I smiled, not bothering to offer my hand this time around as I didn't see it was necessary.

Before any conversation could be started, there was yelling from the kitchen. I couldn't make out what had happened or what was being said, but Percy was on it straight away.

"I'll go attend that and see what has happened. You stay here with Harry and Hermione, make conversation I'm sure you'll have something in common." Percy said to me.

I just smiled and nodded, and gave him a quick peck on the lips as he rushed off.

I then scowled and sat down, both Harry and Hermione sitting down in the grassy patch next to me.

"I saw that scowl. What's wrong?" Harry asked me, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Oh, you saw that? It's just stupid. Percy wants today to go really well, and is being a bit of a perfectionist about everything. The way he said we'd find 'something' in common seemed like it was patronising to all of us. I'm just overanalysing everything though, he just wants everything to go well because his family, and his family friends mean a lot to him." I explained, giving a nervous chuckle at the end.

I watched as Hermione and Harry looked at each other, but I decided to stay silent as they looked away just as quickly.

"You also mean a lot to him, I'm sure." Hermione stated to me, giving a smile at the end.

Without warning, two figures appeared either side of me. It was the twins, Fred and George.

"How'd you get out of that? Your mother seemed pretty adamant on the younger siblings helping her out?" I asked the two, my mouth curving upwards.

"A moth flew up, giving her a scare. Percy ran in screaming at both George and I assuming we had done something wrong. After protesting our innocence and mum confirming, we were released as Percy insisted on taking our spot in the kitchen." Fred stated, being the twin on my left.

"Yep, and now we get to sit here and converse with our future sister in law." George grinned.

I fell over from shock, but then composed myself.

"Whoa, Whoa, WHOA. No one is talking about marriage here. Too fast, man." I protested, putting my hands up in a 'no' like fashion.

"Besides, who would want to marry Percy anyway?" Fred grinned, but earned a disapproving look from his twin brother "What? And you think calling her 'future sister in law' isn't taking things too far?"

"You know what? Let's go introduce you to Bill and Fleur, and their baby Victoire." Hermione suggested, and without warning I jumped up from the bickering twins and followed both Hermione and Harry over, not before the twins ceased to fight and stated amongst each other that I was different than what they expected.


	3. Chapter 3

Big thanks to emmawatsonfan1 for reviewing!

* * *

Dinner was a success. I had been lucky – the Weasley family immediately took a liking to me.

Arthur, Percy's father was asking me all throughout dinner about the lifestyles that muggles lived.

Although I was a witch, I lived a mostly muggle orientated lifestyle. My mother and father separated when I was two, but both of them bought me up around magic. I began getting home schooled in magic at the age of ten, as my name wasn't down for any magical institutions, my parents deciding at the time that I could decide whether I'd want to live a life of being a witch or being a muggle. Of course in this time I was also completing high school in a muggle school.

By eighteen I had enough credits to be able to practise magic full time, as well as go onto tertiary education. I chose Wizardry Law, as it was something I was interested in, and it was also very muggle orientated – in fact some of my units had to be completed in a muggle university as muggle law was very similar and part of my degree. All of my close friends were muggles, I didn't have many magic friends. My flat was also in a muggle block, so mostly everything I did was by hand. I didn't own any magic appliances. Besides my work and half of my studies I was pretty much a muggle.

Arthur was once the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, so he had a strong interest in muggle lifestyles. Therefore as we had lengthy discussions about muggle appliances (Mostly hair straighteners and kettles) he took a liking to me.

Bill, Fleur and I spoke about the current banking reforms. I had studied finance units both in my muggle university and my magic one, so I was well known about these facts. Bill and Fleur both worked for Gringotts so it was interesting to hear their perspectives.

I finally got to speak to Ron, and we spoke about Quiddich. Both he and Percy seemed to be surprised I was heavily into Quiddich (I had never really discussed it with Percy as he had no interest in it) Ron and I both went for the Chudley Cannons. He was surprised, us fans receive a lot of flack from fans of other teams due to our bad losing streak. However I don't care, they were still my boys. Fred and George joined the conversation as well, mostly to tease Ron and I about our choice of a Quiddich team.

I finally got to bond with Ginny. I complimented her shoes, to which she beamed and we got to converse about a range of things.

I had already had conversations with Harry, Hermione, Fred and George but managed to have a few side conversations with them over dinner.

I spoke to Molly when I first entered the house, and then again as I helped her with the dishes. She said I didn't have to when I offered but I insisted. After speaking to her, I felt a little guilty at my first impression of her. She was a kind-hearted lady who would do anything for her children. She was also very interested in my life, and not just because she was curious or prying. We got along very well.

The only one of Percy's siblings I now had yet to meet was Charlie. Charlie was in Romania studying dragons, and was unable to attend. I'm sure I'll get to meet him one day.

"I suppose we should get going. Carly hasn't received her apparition license yet so I'm taking her back to hers, and it's getting quite late." Percy stated to everyone as we had just finished our hot cocoas in the lounge room.

I got up and buried myself under his arm, whilst saying my goodbyes to everyone.

"Carly, I'm sorry to trouble you. The Ministry has provided me with another five year contract for my current role, and I was wondering if you would go over it and make sure everything is okay, as you're a law student." Arthur asked me, sounding hurried.

"Of course!" I said to him, taking no hesitation. It would be good practise on my end, and would save Arthur from having to pay a solicitor.

"What day of the week would suit you? I'm free anyday after work." Arthur asked me.

"I'm only taking one subject this semester, and have crammed it all into Mondays after work. Thursday night I have dinner with my best friend, and apparently Percy wanted to do something Friday night. So it's either Tuesday or Wednesday-wait, scratch that. Wednesday night Colin wants me to go through evidence with him. Is Tuesday night alright?" I asked Arthur.

"Blimey Percy, she's like you, always busy. Hopefully you both have time for each other. Carly, Tuesday night would be wonderful." Arthur stated, earning a slight scowl from Percy from the small dig at his schedule.

"Come on Carly, let's get out of here. I'm awfully tired. Goodbye everyone." Percy said to everyone, earning a round of goodbyes from everyone.

"Goodbye everyone, it was lovely to meet you all. Whoever is around on Tuesday I'll see you then." I said to everyone, but before I could hear their replies Percy had apparated, the scenery changing from the warm living room into my soulless apartment.

I loved my apartment, don't get me wrong. It was completely modern. It was a one bedroom, with the kitchen, living area and bathroom on the first level, modern stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, gorgeous polished floorboards throughout, perfect heating and cooling for climate control. The top level comprised of my bedroom which was up the stairs, and the floor was like a balcony, looking over the entire apartment. The apartment was also on the top floor and had the most amazing view of London.

But this was only temporary living for me. It was most convenient to live in Central London right now, and while I was single why not? When I finally settle down and have a family I'd be purchasing a home not a house. Someone where you'd feel instantly warm, and it would be a comfort to my family and me. This apartment wasn't my home, just the place I currently resided at. As soon as I'm ready to, I'd rent this place out. I won't go into the way I received majority of my finances just yet…

"Well, that was a complete success." Percy stated.

"Yes, I believe so too. I really like your family, you know. Every single member. They seem to all bring something to the family. I always wished for a family like yours growing up." I explained, and Percy just gave me a sympathetic look as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my temple.

"So do you have to be off right now? It's Saturday night, and we're in the hottest apartment in London. Want to join me in a bottle of wine?" I asked Percy, deciding to lighten the mood before it got too depressing.

"I would absolutely love to." Percy smiled at me.

* * *

I didn't realise how tipsy I was until I got up to put the wine glasses on the kitchen bench. If I put them into the dishwasher, they had a chance of breaking and the cracked glass would clog the filter.

I was obviously not too drunk, as I could still think straight as I didn't try and cram the glasses into the dishwasher. But I felt dizzy and giggly. One more glass of wine and that probably would have tipped me over the edge, but with a glass of water I should be fine.

I went to turn around and head back to the couch where my boyfriend was seated, but it had seemed he had come to me. He wrapped his arms around my torso, and began to lightly kiss my neck. Although there was no sucking or biting involved, his gentle kisses were still arousing me.

I turned around, but before I could crash my lips onto his he had picked me up and put me onto the kitchen bench on the other side, away from the sink and dishwasher.

This was when our lips crashed. The kiss was passionate, but not too demanding. Our lips were slowly moving together, and no tongue was involved. I moved my arms to his hair, running my hands through his hair thoroughly during our tongue work. He had his arms snagged around my waist.

It must have gotten too much for him as he quickly broke away, panting.

"Would it be too forward if I requested we take this to the bedroom?" Percy asked, and I must have shot him a weird look as he quickly added on "We don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Hormones were racing inside of me, and I took no hesitation in my answer to him.

"Yeah, of course."

I jumped off the bed and took his hand, leading him through my spacious apartment until we got to the stairs. I went up ahead of him and he actually smacked my arse as we went up.

Even though he couldn't see me, I smirked at this. Percy was usually reserved and polite, although a little opinionated and boastful. However he would not usually be the guy to suggest to take things to the bedroom, or slap a girl's buttocks. Raging testosterone seemed to really change him.

As soon as we reached my bedroom we took no time at all to jump on the bed. Percy had pinned me down and was on top of me, once again kissing me passionately.

Out of nowhere he began to unbutton the white business shirt I was wearing (I had taken my blouse off when we got in, scared of spilling wine onto it) and although I was now beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with where this was heading, I allowed him to as I wrapped my arms around him and continued kissing.

He opened up my shirt, and sat up, looking at me in admiration.

"Your body is so gorgeous, like a piece of sculpted art. You're such a beautiful girl, Carly. Everyone is so shocked to meet you when they do finally meet you. I know what they're thinking, they even tell me. How could I get such beauty like you? Sometimes I ponder it myself." Percy informed me.

I closed my eyes and sighed. I really didn't like when guys had too little, or too much confidence. I had discontinued seeing guys for both those reasons. I had never seen this side of Percy, he wasn't cocky, but he was always confident in his abilities. I'm not sure whether it was the wine, the fact his family had said similar comments today or both, but this wasn't a side of Percy I liked.

I just smiled and kissed him, choosing to ignore his current doubts as any conversation about them, positive or negative would end up down a bad road.

He followed my lead, choosing to cease talking and began to leave a trail of kisses down my bottom, until he reached the bottom of my stomach. I was feeling aroused, but then I realised this was as far as I wanted to go tonight.

Percy had other plans, as I felt him gently lift my body and he began to play with my bra hook, obviously trying to take it off.

"Percy, I can't do this. It's too soon." I whimpered, moving his arms away from my back.

"It's okay, don't be scared. We've been together for a few months, it's not wrong." Percy said to me, putting his hands back to where they were a few moments ago.

I moved his hands again and collapsed back onto the bed in a lying down position, showing Percy it was over for the night and I really didn't want to go further.

He laid down next to me and grabbed my form into a cuddle.


	4. Chapter 4

I broke my number one rule of fanfiction. Don't write when drunk. I'll proof read this tomorrow, and perhaps rewrite some parts. But here is the draft copy.

* * *

I awoke the following morning to my phone ringing. I let out a gurgle-like annoyed sound from my throat, waking up my boyfriend, who opened one eye and sent me a smirk.

I rolled over, reaching for my phone. It was in my bag, and I then let out an annoyed noise as I began to reach for my bag. I then shrugged, grabbed my wand from my bedside table, and called for my phone.

"Accio mobile phone!" I called out, and it landed straight in my hands.

"Anyone interesting?" Percy asked me, wrapping his arm around me as I checked the caller ID.

"Just Ellen." I replied, rolling my eyes.

Ellen, although she was my friend her and I have had a weird friendship, with many ups and downs. We've never technically had a real 'fight' and Ellen proudly boasted this, but we've had many passive aggressive moments.

We met at the tender age of eleven on the first day of secondary school. We were both living in the town of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire. I told her I had no friends and we hung out ever since. Her kindness was short lived – I was in a 'punk/emo' phase at the time due to the fact I was a social outcast, chubby, acne ridden and constantly bullied. She had to dig this knife in deeper by laughing about it behind my back, saying I'd never get a boyfriend. Of course my 'friends' told me, we battled it out, cried and made up, and everything was happy until I was sixteen, and her family decided to move to London, not too long after my dad and I did.

Met first boyfriend. Much older than me boyfriend. Possessive, controlling and just a general moron. Being my best friend she saw it a long time before I did. We argued a lot about him, but she stayed by my side. She didn't even say 'I told you so' two years later.

However after then she always got really weird when I dated a guy, almost in a jealous way. She'd always find some flaw, or try to convince me he didn't like me.

That was up until we were twenty. She was completely relaxed now. Up until then she was trying to desperately find love. For many reasons she never landed herself a boyfriend – too high standards, people smelled her desperation a mile away and used her, etcetera etcetera. She gave up when she twenty, deciding to just go with the flow and let love come to her. Good on her, I was proud to hear. However she now slept around a lot, which worried me a little but at the same time it wasn't emotionally destroying her as the time it was when she was actively seeking a boyfriend.

She also happened to be a muggle, which sometimes made life difficult.

"Hey, how are you?" I asked her, answering her call.

"I'm in some guy's house. He won't wake up. He's alive, he's definitely alive. But I try and wake him and he swats me away. What do I do?" She frantically asked me.

"Do you want to get out or something?" I asked her, smirking as Percy shot me a weird look.

"Yes! What do I do?" She asked me.

"Um, let's see. Well, every guy has a different way of trying to get rid of a one-night stand. Some will outright tell you to get out. Some will hint around it, and some will do odd things. This my friend, is his way of doing a weird thing and hopes you will leave of your own accord." I explained to her.

"So, he wants me to go. I should just go, right?" She concluded.

"Exactly. If you want to stay in contact, leave a note or something. If you don't want to, score you just got your get out of jail free card." I said to her.

"Um, I think I'll write a note anyway. I'll tell you why later," Ellen said to me. "Because we're meeting up for lunch today."

"We are?" I asked quickly, afraid we had made previous plans and I had completely forgotten.

"Sure are, I'm just dying to tell you about my latest conquest. I'm heading out now, and I'll need to shower and stuff. So I'll come pick you up from your apartment in say, two hours?" She asked me.

"Mmm, okay. Percy is here, but I should be ready to go by then." I informed her.

"Great! Can't wait to hear all the goss. Bye hun." She said to meet, and I swiftly hung up after I said goodbye myself.

I put my phone down and rolled over to hug Percy. He gave me a look. He was curious about the phone conversation, but didn't want to be rude enough to ask what we spoke about, bless him.

"It was Ellen, my muggle best friend. She um, had an interesting encounter last night and wants to catch up later to discuss it." I explained to him, smiling slightly.

"Oh, okay. Um, I guess I should probably be off then." Percy said to me, moving himself out of our embrace.

"Um, stay for a bit longer. I really enjoy your company. I don't know when I'd get to see you again, not until next weekend at the earliest." I pouted at him.

"You're going over to my parents on Tuesday. Obviously I don't live there anymore, but would you like me to be there too to make it less uncomfortable for you." Percy offered to me.

"I would love you to. But I do understand that you're currently busy with the ministry, and even getting you to take a Saturday off to meet your family was hard. I want you to come to spend more time with you, but if that's not possible I understand, I really do." I explained to Percy.

"Look, how about we play it by ear. I'll send you an owl on Tuesday to confirm whether I'll be there or not." Percy offered to me.

"Well, alright. I'll be in the office so send the owl there. You know baby, you really should take my offer up and get you a mobile phone. It'd be much easier to communicate that way. You could send me a text message, and I'd instantly receive it. Then I could reply and then we would have plans. It takes two minutes, as opposed to two hours sending owls." I stated to Percy.

"Yes, but I believe muggle technology takes away from the traditional values we must uphold, even if it is more efficient. We have a system in place, and it's precedential nature holds comfort." Percy rebutted.

I pouted, but chose not to reply. I couldn't imagine a world where even as a witch I lived parallel to the muggle universe and completely ignored their customs, values and their general way of living. There were more muggles in the world than wizards and witches, and their culture was everywhere. How could witches and wizards be oblivious to it? I wasn't angry of course, just confused.

But then again, I grew up with muggle culture. I didn't even learn I was a witch until I was eleven. That's a story for another time. But after learning I was a witch I couldn't ignore muggle culture. It was a part of me. Even though I learned I was a witch I only adopted their culture as a part time thing, something I could understand and live through, but not full time. That tradition followed me today. It was like being British, and understanding how the French live, and following through with this culture because say, your boyfriend was French. But as soon as you got away from his French parents, you went back to your British parents and your usual lifestyle. I was British, and the wizardry world was French.

"Um, forgive me for being straightforward," I began to ask Percy, mimicking his words from last night "But um, do you maybe want to shower together?"

Percy's eyes lit up, he seemed very interested in my proposal.

"I would absolutely love to. But first, I must ask, do muggles really receive a 'get out of jail free card' to get themselves out of jail? How does it work?" Percy replied.

* * *

I sat the café with Ellen, my best friend. I sat patiently and listened to her entire story about her whole one night stand. As she didn't have a boyfriend, one-night stand stories were her form of boyfriend stories. So I treated them as important stories. One day she'd meet the right guy and she'd have boyfriend stories. Then we'd finally get to do what we always wanted to do: double dates.

So I waited patiently until she stopped talking about her night (Which wasn't that interesting: she met the guy in a quirky way, he interacted with her friends, her friends eventually met guys they went home with, she went home with this guy, woke up the next morning, got ready and we came here) before I began to talk about my weekend.

"So I met Percy's parents yesterday, and his entire extended family. I met six out of seven siblings, his eldest brother's wife and his niece." I blatantly stated.

"Oh OUCH! I can't imagine what meeting a boyfriend's family would be like, let alone a huge family like that. How'd the night end up?" Ellen curiously asked me, taking a big sip out of her iced latte.

"Um, it went well. Percy and I went back to mine, and we made out a bit and fooled around on the bed, but nothing below the belt." I proudly stated.

"WHAT! You and Percy have been going out for a few months, and you haven't had sex? You used to put out on the first date. What happened there?" Ellen demanded, nearly spitting out her iced latte in the process of asking.

"Nice American terminology. But this guy is sensible, he doesn't believe in those kinds of things. We were going to last night, but I wasn't ready. Me, not ready? The world is topsy turvy I know!" I giggled, earning a giggle from Ellen who grabbed my arm as she giggled too.

"He sounds nice. You guys fooled around and he didn't press on? That's amazing. What have you guys done, then?" Ellen asked, smirking at my statements.

"I err, well, we've kissed…and we showered together this morning! So nothing really yet, but we've now seen each other naked. That's an ice breaker, right?" I asked Ellen, my cheeks flushing red, as I now felt embarrassed about what we've done.

"So, you guys got naked, showered together, and didn't have sex in the shower?" Ellen asked, her jaw dropping to the ground.

"No, we didn't. I didn't even give him head, or a hand job, and he didn't finger me or anything." I replied, my cheeks going even redder. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I was proud that Percy and I had a relationship where sexual needs weren't the most important thing, but the way Ellen was reacting made me feel like I was fifteen again.

"Carly, I'm so happy for you. I think this is the first guy you've been with who is actually a decent guy. I'd love to meet him someday, wait, does he have any friends?" Ellen asked me, and I could almost see the stars in her eyes.

I actually snorted at this. You know, I wasn't even sure if Percy had friends. He never spoke about them, but he mentioned a lot of people in the ministry. Since work was so important, I was guessing the ministry people he mentioned were his friends. But they seemed like the people who would never have time for a blind date, so unfortunately there was no going down the path of setting up Ellen with one of his friends.

"No, but he has a lot of brothers. Some of them are taken, but I'm sure we can organise something one day?" I offered.


	5. Chapter 5

I raced towards the nearest fireplace I could find, knowing I would be late for my appointment at The Burrows. I had corresponded with Arthur over owl, and I would to be at The Burrows by 7PM for dinner. After dinner I'd go over Arthur's new employment contract with him and then someone would apparate me home.

Percy had sent me an owl on his lunch break saying he wasn't sure whether he would be able to make it, his writing was sprawled and he said he would speak to me later about it. In the news there was a report on somebody using the Floo Network to horrifically murder his ex wife and children, so I automatically assumed it had something to do with that. He would be preoccupied with that for a while.

Speaking of the Floo Network, I had my gym back over my shoulder as I found a fireplace that was just downstairs from my gym, strategically put there as an open port for the Floo Network for those who needed to use it.

I grabbed some Floo Powder from my stash in my bag, screamed "The Burrows" and after the whirlwind transportation and covering my face with my hands, I went shooting through the Weasley fireplace.

As I had yet to receive my apparition license, I used the Floo Network quite often. As a result of this I knew how to use it perfectly. I knew how to not come spitting out of your destination and I knew how to avoid having too much ash over you. So when I jumped out of the Weasley fireplace, I jumped into the lounge room, landing on one foot like a ballerina, with next to no ash on me.

"Ta da!" I joked, watching as Ginny, Harry and Ron were in the lounge room and had their eyes glued to me.

"Bloody hell! You gave me a bit of a freight!" Ron exclaimed.

"Oops, sorry. Who's home tonight, anyway?" I curiously asked Ron.

"It's just Mum, Dad, Ginny, Harry and myself. I think Fred and George might be coming around for tea though; they come here often looking for food. Other than that, everyone else has moved out." Ron informed me.

"Really? That must be so depressing for your parents. To go from a household full of hell, to this. Where's Hermione?" I asked Ron.

"She lives with her parents still. We're both saving up for a house together, but Auror training pay is rubbish, so she's the breadwinner in the relationship right now." Ron remarked, and I could tell this was a sensitive topic for him, I decided to brush it under the rug.

I was going to ask Ginny and Harry how they were, but Molly came into the room and rushed over me to give me a hug.

"Carly dear, how are you? Percy sent me an owl to say not to cook dinner for him, as he would be unable to make it but might pop by later. Come on everyone, let's sit down as dinner is now ready." Molly said to me, ushering everyone to the table.

As she dished up the food and everyone sat down, there were two large cracks that were heard. We all looked over, and saw Fred and George standing over the table.

"Oi! You were going to start without us?" George asked, feigning hurt.

"Boys! You didn't say you were coming around for dinner. Of course we were going to start without you!" Molly stated, sounding very frustrated.

"We'll help ourselves to what's on the stove then, and take a seat." Fed said, and both the twins walked into the kitchen.

"Well, alright then," She replied, but then turned to me "I always make extras, because the twins always pop around with no warning. I also give them food to take home every time I see them. If not, I don't think they would eat, running their joke shop and all."

"You both run a joke shop?" I asked, sounding quite surprised as the two red headed twins came walking in from the kitchen, plates in hand.

"We do. If you're ever down Diagon Alley, you should come check it out." Fred winked at me.

"I live within walking distance. I sometimes go to Diagon Alley to stock up on the little magic supplies I have. I'll definitely take you up on that offer." I replied.

Surprisingly, going through Arthur's new employment contract with him didn't take that long at all. I'd studied employment law at a tertiary level, and they used the standard Ministry contract, which they used for every Ministry employee. Only one page had changed, which was different for everyone and included remuneration, hours etc. Everything was all set for him to sign.

I was surprisingly outside with George, Fred, Harry, Ron and Ginny. The boys were having a miniature Quiddich game; of course as it was two on two the only roles played were Chasers, and the hoops were makeshift. It was Fred and George vs. Harry and Ron, which was fair because during Hogwarts apparently Fred and George were beaters, Harry was a seeker and Ron was a keeper, meaning they were all outside of their natural habitats. Ginny and I were sitting down, watching.

"You can go home if you want, you don't have to stay if you don't want to." Ginny stated to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, shifting my weight from my arms as I was sitting with my legs outstretched.

"I don't know. I don't mean to offend you – but you're not the kind of girl we'd expect Percy to be with. Percy always considered Fred, George, Ron and myself the younger of the Weasley siblings and tried to be a role model, rather than an equal. So it feels strange you, his girlfriend would want to hang out with us." Ginny said to me, but smiled to show she wasn't being harsh and dare I say, enjoyed my company?

"How old are you guys, anyway?" I asked curiously.

"Fred and George are twenty one. Ron is nineteen and I'm eighteen." Ginny answered.

"Well, there we go. I'm twenty-one too, Percy is two years older than me. Therefore I'm in your age range to hang out." I shrugged, smiling at Ginny who sent me a smile back.

Fred landing in front of us with no warning caught us off guard.

"I'm over it! I am over it. Ron keeps trying to dispute every goal. You go play on your boyfriend's team and see how difficult he is! I will keep our visitor entertained!" Fred whined.

Ginny sighed, shaking her head as she took the broom off her older brother and flew into the air to pick up the game, not bothering to utter a word.

"Fred, you didn't have to. You can go inside, or whatever you'd find more appealing." I shrugged, finding my shyness again. After spending time with the Weasley family I had grown comfortable around them, but this situation was definitely out of my comfort zone.

"Wait, how can you tell the difference between George and I? Come to think of it, it seems you've been able to for a while." Fred remarked.

"Unlike you it seems, I have a great attention to detail." I joked, poking my tongue out to emphasise my joke, to which Fred only smiled.

"So why didn't you want to play anyway? We could have done three against three." Fred asked me.

"Er, well. I've been living a very wizard sheltered life, and to be honest I've never flown on a broomstick before." I admitted, my awkward feeling only getting stronger as my face heated up.

"Get outta here! No way! We'll have to change that, won't we?" Fred offered in complete disbelief.

"No! Not tonight. I'm cold enough down here, let alone to go in the air with the wind and stuff. Freezing!" I remarked.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you're the one wearing a low cut tank top, and short shorts." Fred stated, and I looked down at the grass, needing to think my answer through carefully. This could end badly.

"I came straight from the gym, if I changed back into my work clothes I would have been late." I informed him.

"What are you doing tomorrow night? Come back here, we'll get you up on a broom." Fred offered to me.

"I can't. Working late, Colin Griffiths, the guy I'm doing the internship with wants me to work back to comb through evidence with him. By the time I get here, your whole family would be sleeping. Not to mention Percy and his ways of going to bed early, if he would even come at all!" I explained.

"So? I'll still be up. We'll go then." Fred shrugged, as if this was no big deal.

"How do you think Percy would react if I came here late at night, to go on a late night flight with you? I've pretty much only just met you. He'd think it's highly inappropriate, and he wouldn't be scared to voice such opinions either." I asked Fred.

He opened his mouth to argue, but then quickly closed it, deep in thought. He then hung his head down, knowing I was right. No one would feel comfortable if his or her significant other did that, right?

"Which is why you should come meet me at my work. I finish at ten. I work down Cauldron Lane; it's around the corner from Diagon Alley, actually. You happened to be walking past, and feeling it was dangerous for me to go home at that time you er, gave me transportation home." I said to Fred, deciding on a whim to roll with it and conjured up a perfect cover story.

"Hey, I'm all for it. But if we have to lie about what we're doing, isn't that pretty bad? Aren't you scared of any consequences hiding this from Percy will bring?" Fred asked me.

"It's technically not a lie. And we're not hiding anything; I'll be sure to tell Percy we met up. Look, I need excitement in my life. I work full time and study part time. I never really get to do anything anymore, besides the monotonous lifestyle I now lead." I begged Fred.

"As I said, I'm game. I just wanted to make sure you really wanted to do something like this. But I guess this method, as well as the act of flying on the broomstick doubles the fun, right?" Fred asked me.

"Thanks heaps, I really do appreciate you taking the time for this. And for going along with this little white lie. It's only a one time thing, it's not going to hurt anyone anyway." I stated.

Fred then studied my face and sent me a smile. As he was out of focus I wasn't sure what he was doing, but seconds later he was throwing grass at me.

"You're SO going to pay for that!" I screeched, picking up the same grass he used as well as more clumps to throw at him.

After a small grass war, where we had dirt down our shirts and his trousers, and grass strains all over our clothes we called a truce. The Quiddich players were also packing up, ready to call it a night and head back in – I think it had something to do with the tantrums Ron was throwing.

"Oh Fred, by the way." I began.

"Hmm?" He asked, ceasing the dusting of his clothes to look up at me to give me all of his attention.

"The reason I can tell George and yourself apart is because your eyes are brighter than George's." I stated to Fred, offering my hand to help him to get up, which he took as we both headed inside together.


	6. Chapter 6

Big thanks to emmawatsonfan1 again for reviewing. Updates may be slowed over the weekend, I have a big weekend planned. We'll see.

* * *

"Alright Colin, Mark. It's ten. I've been here since eight thirty in the morning, I don't care if this makes me look bad considering I'm on an internship, I'm out." I shrugged, violently shutting the folder I was working on.

A lot of people working on an internship in order to build a career would do anything their boss asks of them, even if it meant working unreasonable hours. Percy is one of those people. I am too, to a certain extent. I did agree to work until ten; I've been working for over thirteen hours. However, that being said, Colin and the second internship he's taken on were going to keep at it. I wasn't a suck up; I wasn't staying for an extra minute. I respected my boss, but even I had my limits, and I wasn't afraid to voice them.

Of course I knew Colin well, and I knew how he would take such a statement. If I had a different manager, I'd nicely tell them it was clock off time.

"You're definitely a Donovan." Colin grinned at me.

"Last time I checked, that was the surname I put on my application." I cheekily retorted, grabbing my bag.

"You know what I mean. That is so something your father would say." Colin said to me.

I stopped in my tracks, but turned around and proudly replied "I know" as I headed out.

When I looked outside, I couldn't see Fred. I huffed. He better not expect me to wait around. It was cold and I was drained from work, and I didn't want to look like an idiot. I'd wait five minutes, tops.

As per his request I owled him the address earlier, and he returned a note with the owl saying 'got it' so he has no excuse.

As I was looking around for him, I heard a voice in my ear say 'where is he?' I jumped, not expecting this action and being fearful about who this person was, what their intention was with me and why they were invading my personal space.

I turned around and saw Fred grinning. I smiled, but lightly whacked his arm to show him a form of punishment.

He then opened his arms, and engulfed me into a hug. I was a little surprised, and lightly hugged him back, but I was uncomfortable with this. It wasn't that I minded hugging him, but really? I can understand that his mum would hug me, because it's his mum and that's her personality, but I didn't see Fred as a hugging greeter. I certainly wasn't, I hate that hug relationship thing.

"So, I bought a broom. We technically could fly here, but we'd be breaking the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, which you'd know all about." Fred remarked.

"Oh boy, don't I. My first university subjects were at the Muggle University where we have to take some mandatory law subjects. So we're talking like, Donoghue Vs Stevenson, snail in the bottle. Then I start the magic subjects, and it's like 'oh yeah this act was bought in because thousands of muggles were brutally killed because they couldn't use charms to protect themselves," I began, but Fred gave me a look that showed that I had lost him a long time ago "But um, yeah. Long story short, the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy is a big subject in university."

"You're wearing a skirt…would you like me to take you home to get changed?" Fred asked me, cocking his eyebrows up.

"I um, yeah sure. I wore a tight fitted skirt and stockings, but getting quickly changed would be a blessing, thanks." I smiled.

* * *

"Alright. Jump on behind me, and hold on for dear life. I won't go very high up or very fast until you're comfortable with it. Alright?" Fred asked me, once we apparated to a quiet countryside.

Of course like every visitor I had, Fred remarked about how awesome my flat was. Every day the modern interior lost it's appeal and I longed for a warm family home more and more. Of course I longed for a particular warm family home I used to be able to call mine, but I knew that was never coming back.

I changed into a pair of black leggings, a light blue hoodie and changed my footwear to a pair of chucks, and Fred apparated us to a countryside he said he'd never had the chance to explore, and that we could explore it together.

"You're a prankster, why should I trust you?" I asked Fred, narrowing my eyes.

"You've put your trust in me, I wouldn't do anything to break that trust. I'm a Gryffindor, please just believe me." Fred said to me, grabbing my arm and looking into my eyes, hoping that I'd see sincerity.

I did, and I had trusted him all along. I was half joking when I asked him that question. But he was frowning, and I could see worry all over his face. He was really worried I didn't trust him.

"Promise?" I smirked.

"Promise." Fred stated, and I nodded and jumped onto the broom behind him.

"Alright. Grab onto my waist, and I'll lift us up slowly." Fred said to me.

"Y-your waist?" I stuttered, not realising I'd have to make human contact.

"Well, you can grab onto the broom, but behind me there's not much room for you to sit and grab. There's also less chance of you falling off if you're holding onto me." Fred replied, as if anticipating my reply.

I chose not to reply to his suggestion, but grabbed onto his waist tight. He kicked off, and slowly raised us up until we were a metre or two high.

"Oh wow, this is such a peculiar feeling." I remarked, feeling the wind gush me a lot more than it was a few moments ago, due to being a little higher up.

"You use pretentious words, even to describe something as petty as emotions. You really are Percy's girlfriend. Just let the feelings hit you, enjoy the moment." Fred said to me, and I felt a pang in my chest.

I wasn't offended, but the reality of the situation just hit me. I was Percy's girlfriend, but here I was late at night, in the middle of nowhere with his younger brother, arms around his waist as I tried something new and exciting, without telling Percy where I was. It wasn't cheating, but when it was looked at in that way, it was close to it.

"Alright, I'll stay at this height, but I'll begin to slowly move forward, okay?" Fred asked me.

"Okay." I replied in a simple manner.

He then began to move forward, and that's when it became a little more exciting. The only feeling I could compare this to was riding a ride at an amusement park. But then you always had a safety bar to hold you in, and usually you're enclosed. The fun of riding broomsticks seemed to be the adrenaline rush, which I still had yet to feel the full effects of.

"Look, I'm cool to go fast. Just not high. So maybe just go up another metre, and then go really fast, that would be fun." I commanded Fred.

"I-well, alright. Are you sure?" Fred asked me.

"Look, I'll be honest. Between the ages of sixteen and eighteen I rode in a lot of different cars with different people, usually boys. And most of those boys were hoons, I'm used to going really fast." I admitted to Fred, feeling a little embarrassed by my trashy past, but not going as red as I usually would. I guess it was different telling Fred than it would be telling Percy, Fred was a lot more relaxed.

"Oh, and also, I'll probably scream. But it just means that I'm having fun and to go faster, not to stop. If I do want you to stop, I'll ask you to." I added on.

"Ha, not the morals I was bought up on. But if you say so." Fred joked, and I could hear the smirk in his voice, as he began to take off, me screaming as I promised.

* * *

"Um, thanks for taking me riding tonight. I had a lot of fun." I said to Fred, as we apparated into my apartment.

Apparently it was nearly one o' clock, eek! We had just been shooting around those empty fields, barely any words were spoken and I got my adrenaline rush. It was absolutely exhilarating to be doing so many things you're not supposed to be doing. Flying high and being able to clearly see everything below you. Going at super speeds. Doing both of these things being out in the open and not enclosed, and being able to feel the wind, and smell your surroundings. It was surreal. I can't even describe how amazing it was.

"Yeah, me too. It was awesome being able to share that experience with you. Do you want to go for a spin again sometime? Next time I'll teach you how to ride and you can do the controlling?" Fred asked me.

"I'd absolutely love to! When were you thinking?" I asked him curiously.

"You know what? You're the person doing a hundred things at once. You tell me when you're free, I'll make time for you." Fred stated.

"Yeah, but you run a retail business with insane opening hours. Let's just agree to meet up when we're both free? I can even pencil you in before others…" I replied, half joking about the last comment.

"We have assistants, and I have a twin brother who's a partner of the business, I can sneak away for a while," Fred said to me "What are you up to tomorrow?"

"What am I NOT up to tomorrow? I have work all day, I'm catching up with my sister for lunch in Diagon Alley on my lunch break, sorry I'd visit your shop but I won't have time, then after work I'm going to dinner with my Muggle best friend." I answered Fred, feeling a little out of breath after that long explanation.

"Then it's set. We'll meet at your place after you're done with your friend." Fred said to me.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you emmawatsonfan1 for your continued support, as well as SwishyWishy for reviewing. As per the suggestion, I have changed the rating to "T" at least for now. I'm not sure how in depth I'll be going with adult content, what do you guys think?

* * *

For someone who had a lot packed into their day, my day ended up pretty boring. I went to Diagon Alley with my sister for lunch, which was fun.

My sister was ten years older than me, and although we had very different lives, we connected so well and felt very similar. We were technically half sisters, as we had different mothers, but that meant nothing to both of us. Unlike me, she had actually gone off to Hogwarts. Like our dad, she was sorted into Gryffindor. Also unlike me, who was the loser of every school I attended until I moved to London when I was sixteen, she was really popular, and still hung out with Hogwarts friends to this day.

Although our upbringings were different, we were now very similar. We had the same attitudes, same ideals, and the same opinions on most things.

As it was both of our lunch breaks we could only have a quick catch up. She had recently broken up with a long-term boyfriend so having nothing to report, she was interested in asking me about Percy a lot. She also expressed a keen interest in wanting to meet him, something that would be easier to organise than with Ellen as Kate (my sister) was a full-blooded witch.

I also told her that I had been meeting up with Fred his younger brother, although amicably. Her words to me were to be careful, which I shrugged off. I was going to tell Percy, it wasn't going to be a permanent thing and I wasn't doing anything wrong anyway.

Then after work, I met up with Ellen. Ellen lived in Cambridge, but drove to and from central London everyday for work, so it was easy to convince her to drop me off at my house by nine o' clock, as she wouldn't be home until after ten. This was the time I arranged to meet Fred so we could go flying again.

When we pulled up outside my apartment block, Fred was already waiting outside.

"Does he live in your apartment block? He's kind of cute." Ellen said to me.

I gave her a weird look. Ellen usually went for guys who would be labelled as pretty boys. The kind of guys who play the footballer jerk in American high school movies was the best way to describe her type. Not types like the Weasley twins, or any Weasley for that matter.

"Um, no. He's here to see me…" I trailed off, not knowing how to explain this to her.

"Oh? And who is he, then?" She smirked, wanting to know the gossip.

"He's just a friend." I muttered, not wanting to go into the fact he was my boyfriend's younger brother for the second time today.

I wasn't scared of Ellen being judgmental. That's one thing she wasn't; judgmental. She had been there when I cheated on my first boyfriend (In my defence, I kept trying to break up with him to which he threatened my life and my family's, although I do admit if I was put in that situation again I'd do things differently) and she was there when I'd run around and date three or more guys at once. She had never uttered one judgmental word to me.

I wasn't even sure what I was scared of, but I felt nerves build up inside of me.

Fred, who had noticed the car had pulled up to my apartment block grinned and waved at me. I smiled and waved back, beckoning him over as I thought that perhaps if Ellen could meet him she might drop it.

"Fred, this is my best friend Ellen. Ellen, this is Fred." I lazily introduced after winding my window down, waving my hand in-between them.

"What are you both up to tonight?" Ellen asked curiously, not dropping the stupid grin she had on her face.

"We're um…" Fred trailed off, looking at me for an answer. He knew she was a muggle so we couldn't say we were going flying, and he also knew what we were doing was technically wrong, so he obviously didn't want to broadcast that fact for my sake.

"Going through legal stuff. It's really long and boring, I promise. I promised Fred I'd help him with some legal stuff." I quickly replied, panic spreading through me as I realised my answered wasn't very well articulated, delivering it sloppily.

"Hmm, okay. You'll have to tell me all about it next time we hang out. I'll see you soon, okay?" She asked me.

I went bright red, and just muttered a goodbye as I got out of the car and onto the street with Fred. She parked for just long enough to see how we'd properly greet each other, and beeped the horn as Fred embraced me and she speed off.

"Um, don't mind her. Her life is so boring she takes the smallest things and in her head turns them into big deals. She's now convinced we're going to run away and elope tonight, or something else that is insane. I didn't bother telling her you're Percy's brother, she would just think more crazy things." I said to Fred, rolling my eyes in the process.

"Ah, okay. I'm sure everything will be alright though, when she realises nothing happens she'll drop it…Has she met Percy yet?" Fred asked curiously.

"No…actually that's amusing. You're meeting my friends before Percy. Let's go inside, I'll quickly get changed into something more comfortable, and we'll go in." I said to Fred, who quickly began to mirror a smirk on my face as I completed my sentence, but stayed silent as I used my swipe on the front door and headed up to my apartment.

* * *

Fred had apparated both he and I back to the same countryside we were in last night. Even though we went zooming around, we didn't get to go very high and mostly zoomed around the same paddock over and over. This time we were going to explore the paddock properly.

"You're steering tonight, so like you were last night, tonight I'll be sitting behind you, grabbing your waist screaming into your ear. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Fred asked me, and I scowled at him taking offense.

He chose to ignore my scowl, but worry flashed in his eyes as he passed me the broom. I only smiled to show I was over it, and mounted the broom. If I verbalised the fact I was okay it would just bring the topic up again, and it was much easier to just let the topic pass.

"You'll have to move down the broom a little, which gives us closer contact unfortunately. But you'll need as much room as possible to be able to steer. I won't bite." Fred said to me, and I just slowly nodded as I did as he asked.

"Okay, um. I'll be getting behind you now. Just thought I'd warn you in case it gave you a shock." Fred said to me, and I felt him mount the broom behind me, and slowly put his hands around my waist.

"O-okay." I shakily replied.

This physical contact with Fred was making me feel nervous, and I didn't really know why. My breath was shaky and I was fighting back shivers. I had never had this physical contact with a male unless I had been interested in him, which I guess was subconsciously making me nervous. I had low self-esteem not with my appearance, but the way others perceived me and interacted with me due to years of bullying, so receiving contact from someone I'd usually have romantic intentions with was triggering nerves, even though our current actions were entirely innocent.

"Alright, everything seems to be ready to go. All you need to do is kick off, and I'll direct you from there." Fred stated to me.

* * *

"This is such a nice view!" I gasped, once we reached our destination.

I had been flying around for a while, until we landed upon a large tree. Near the top a platform had been created, and I wasn't sure whether it was a muggle tree house, or wizard made but it was completely deserted. Fred asked if I wanted to climb it, but I refused. I climbed a lot of trees when I was six, but after my mother moved us away from the orchards we lived in, I stopped as I missed those orchards and climbing trees reminded me of them.

I was also not confident enough to fly that high, so I made Fred apparate us to the top. Now we were sitting on the platform, legs dangling over the side as we appreciated the view.

"Yeah, it is. I forgot how peaceful the countryside is, and lovely the scenery is. I couldn't wait to move to London to start my joke shop, but I miss home a lot more than I thought I would. Of course we don't want our family to think that, so George and I always claim it's the food alone." Fred smirked.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I miss the scenery of a less dense area too." I sighed, not even bothering to face him as I looked at the countryside below.

"Oh?" Fred asked, turning to look at me.

I contemplated whether I should tell him or not. I hadn't even told Percy the full story, not wanting to burden him with my emotions or seem like I was seeking attention. But Fred looked genuinely interested, and his comic relief was probably what I needed right now. Besides, it would be rude not to elaborate.

"It's a long story…" I trailed off, deciding to warn him before I went into details.

"We have all the time in the world." Fred shrugged, and shifted his entire body to face me to show I had his full attention.


	8. Chapter 8

Fred is out of character this part. But just remember we've never really seen him apart from George, (Battle of Hogwarts doesn't count!) developing a serious crush on a girl, or his character receiving such serious information as he does in this part.

* * *

"I was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. My sister, my mother and my father lived there. My mother had custody of me up until I was sixteen and had the choice to go live with my father. I won't go into details, but she was not a fit mother. I got to see my father and sister on weekends, and his house was absolute bliss. It was always warm and comforting, and I got to spend time with the people who cared about me the most." I explained to Fred.

He moved closer to me, and put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. I smirked at his reaction; this was only just the beginning.

"Not too long after I moved in with him, he decided to move to London. My sister had moved out of home a while ago to work at Gringotts, and he was offered a nice job. The London townhouse wasn't too bad, I was still living with my dad, and it was nice and close to school. However, in my final year of school my father got really sick. It was cancer, something magic still can't cure. He beat it, but it came back later on. The last time I ever spoke to him was my twentieth birthday. He died unexpectedly the day after." I said, giving a sigh at the end, and then looked at Fred to study his reaction, afraid of receiving pity.

I had grown a lot colder of pity, or people trying to help and understand since my father died. When he was ill I could tolerate it, but as nice as their intentions were, I couldn't stand it when people tried to show their support and understanding towards my situation. Nothing could bring my dad back, so I'd rather just move on and continue living with my life, like my dad requested when we found out he had terminal cancer.

Fred said nothing but sent me a half smile, and moved his hand to run my shoulder up and down, instead of just squeezing it like he did before. I smiled back, appreciating his reaction. This is exactly what I wanted.

"So you're not close with your mother?" He asked me.

"She's in Azkaban." I simply replied, and he mouthed an 'oh'

"Well, this is awkward. Usually I'll have something to say to lighten the mood, but anything I say that's light hearted would make me the most insensitive bastard." Fred nervously said, keeping one arm on my shoulder, but moving the other one to awkwardly scratch the back of his neck.

"At least you're honest. When I reveal this stuff to people, or even just bits and pieces they try and pretend they understand, or try to compare it to their lives when everything is so different for them, it really annoys me. Hence why I haven't told many people." I shrugged.

"Feel free to reveal more, if you'd like to." Fred said to me.

"Mmm, that's mostly it. My mother got sent to Azkaban for helping to harbour my Death Eater cousins during the Second War. Then the Ministry finally took my claims of child abuse against her seriously, not that it mattered because she had a life sentence anyway. She's the reason I didn't go to Hogwarts, her, unlike my sister's mother refused to send me under Dumbledore. My father was nothing like her, his parents were considered blood traitors. Therefore he was a caring person. My mother was used up, and couldn't get herself an elite 'pure blood' so she thought a blood traitor would be worse than a half blood or muggle to procreate, and perhaps she could brainwash me into following Voldemort." I explained to Fred.

"How did that work out? As someone who went to Hogwarts and had to constantly be around _that kind_ I found that once you were considered a blood traitor, you were um…as bad as the other kinds of people they liked to hate." Fred asked me curiously, choosing his words carefully.

"Of course, it didn't work out at all. Her brothers and sisters got to be part of Voldemort's regime. Not the most elite, but they were allowed to participate. My mother got brandished a blood traitor forever, and used to blame me for it. She'd constantly beat me, curse me and hex me saying it was my fault. Dumb bitch, bought it on herself." I hissed.

"That's perhaps the one thing I can relate to you about. My family were blood traitors too, of course only according to them. However I won't even try and compare the situations. Having been bought up by a Death Eater mother would have been awful." Fred exclaimed.

"I felt mostly sorry for my dad. He had no idea until after I was born. He hated himself; he found it was his fault I was bought into this world like that. But I had my both his and my sister's love, and that was the greatest gift I could be given. " I smiled, just at the memory of my father.

Fred then moved his hand from my shoulder, moving it down my arm into my hand. I jumped a little at this contact, not expecting it. However unlike most of the contact Fred had been giving me, I didn't feel uncomfortable. I had opened up to Fred, something I hadn't done for a long time. Not only did he now know everything I kept hidden away, he gave me the perfect responses. I don't think I could ever feel uncomfortable around him ever again.

"You've done great. You've picked up your life and you've moved on wonderfully. I would have honestly never known. You're one of the most successful people I know, and everyone in the family knows you're going to go onto great things. Also after telling me all that, I think you're also one of the strongest people I know." Fred stated, squeezing my hand and I squeezed it back.

"Percy obviously doesn't know. I don't know when he will, I guess if our relationship lasts I'd tell him one day, but I don't feel comfortable in telling him right now." I said to Fred.

"I know you're not hinting that I'd tell him, but I won't utter a word to anyone, not even George. I also know it might not be much consolation to make up for an awful childhood or lack of family but everyone in the Weasley family absolutely loves ya, and if you ever want to feel the warm and comforts of a home or need company, you're always welcome at The Burrows, even if myself or Percy aren't there." Fred offered to me.

"Thanks." I replied, and my mouth curled into a genuine smile. Even after such a depressing conversation, I had something to smile about. A lot of good had come out of that conversation.

We were then silent for a few moments as we looked out over the hillside. I had forgotten that Fred's hand was over mine, until he started rubbing his thumb in my palm. He must have done it absentmindedly, as he seemed to realise what he was doing when I looked over at him.

He gave me a nervous smile to which I returned, and we both made no attempt to remove our hands from each other, finding this position comfortable.

After looking over the view again in silence for a few moments, I turned to look at Fred. Feeling my gaze upon him, he turned to look at me as well. No words were exchanged, but we both began to move closer to each other. He scooted closer next to me, keeping his hand in mine and I made no indication to move away from his advance.

With an epic Hollywood lean in kiss style, the space between us closed and surely enough, our lips were locked. It was definitely the gentlest kiss I had ever received. Whilst there was no outwardly obvious passion driving the kiss, it was an innocent and gentle kiss. It lasted a few moments, our lips moving together meant it was longer than a friendly light peck, but definitely too short to be considered a snog.

We broke away, and just as slowly as we leaned in, we slowly opened our eyes and moved away. I began to blush as Fred studied my face, not feeling embarrassed about the kiss, but feeling embarrassed being under his scrutiny.

"You're adorable. You look down when you're embarrassed. It's very cute." Fred stated to me softly.

This of course just made me blush harder, and I proved Fred right as I looked down.


	9. Chapter 9

After the night I kissed Fred, I began to avoid him. I should have heeded my sister's advice of 'be careful' instead of laughing it off. The kiss itself didn't mean anything; I just wanted to show Fred my appreciation that he listened to what I had to say. Not the most appropriate way, but I don't hold any romantic feelings towards him.

Either way I crossed a line I shouldn't have. Many people have different ideals on what actually is cheating, whether it's kissing or more than that. But I'm sure most people wouldn't be too happy their significant other kissed their sibling. That was something I would keep from Percy. I had also decided not to tell him about the time I spent with Fred after all, in case I slipped up any unnecessary information. I felt guilty but I was pushing it to the back of my mind. It wouldn't happen again, so I'd eventually get over it.

* * *

I sighed and threw my quill off my bed, and into the lower area of my apartment. Exams were coming up, and I was completely frustrated. Not only did I have to study the content of my subject, I had to get used to using quills again too. Some quills were amazing – especially for essay use. But when I'm just doing regular study, plain old pens are the easiest option.

However in the Wizarding world quills are mandatory for assessment use, and it was that time of semester where I would have to get used to using them again.

I was also frustrated, as I get cranky after hours of studying. I wanted to keep going but I knew I couldn't, as I wasn't retaining any information. It was time for a study break.

I did need to stock up on some supplies from Diagon Alley. I only went every now and again and got everything I needed at once, so I was currently really low or completely out on some of my magical products.

I bit my lip as I looked at the clock. It was two o' clock. I'd be at least two hours at Diagon Alley, so I'd schedule in returning at five for all intents and purposes. Ellen would be over by eight, we had planned a night out on the town, so I'd have to start getting ready as soon as I got home.

_Oh, what the hell. _I thought as I jumped off my bed, bounded into the stairs and raced into the bathroom, to make myself look presentable.

* * *

"Can I help you?" one of the sales assistants asked as I stepped into Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions.

"Just looking thanks." I mumbled, scurrying away from her. Sales assistants were just as persistent in the Wizarding world as they were in the muggle world, if not more, as a lot of wizards and witches lacked even less common sense than a muggle.

I however loved this store. It took me a while, but muggle beauty products were one of the things I moved away from, accepting that magic made the products a lot more effective. Make-up stuck to the skin so you never had to worry about smudging, reapplying on a night out or nasty unwelcome lines. Perfume stayed strong until your next wash. Toothpaste actually was whitening. You get the drift.

I browsed for a little bit, but then grabbed one of their baskets that had a charm on it to follow the customer around and levitate. I grabbed my usual products, and then went over to the place they advertise all the new products.

They had a stand of 'new' products, and I was looking over to see if anything was worth adding to my collection. I found a lip-gloss tube that had said the scent and flavour was 'snog' and finding this amusing, I picked it up and read the description.

_Allure Witch's new product, Love Lips is bound to spice your life up beyond belief. Snog's scent is whatever scent will bring the sniffer to his knees, helping you with what you've already got._

I rolled my eyes, awful marketing and product design. The blurb was written as if they didn't know whether to have their niche market as teenagers, or young adults. Either way I was intrigued enough to throw the product into my basket, wanting to know if it actually worked.

Before I could even go onto the other products, a witch approached me. She looked middle aged, but she was a pretty middle aged. She had blonde hair which I assumed was dyed, but didn't look like a dye job, bright green eyes and the only thing that showed aging were crows feet around her eyes, which in a weird way suited her. Her clothes were traditional witch clothes, which included lovely robes, a fashion I'd never understood, but once again they suited her.

"If you take my advice, I'd suggest not bothering with most of this new stuff. Some of these products are amazing, but lately they're so expensive and mediocre compared to what other shops are offering." She said to me.

I turned to her; curious about what advice she had to give. She looked great, and I was still a novice when it came to wizarding products.

"What do you suggest then?" I asked curiously, but added a smile onto the end of my sentence to show I was not being rude, I did not think she was interrupting me at all.

"If you go down the alley there's a joke shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. I know it's peculiar to buy high quality beauty products from something as ridiculous as a joke shop, but I swear by their products. They're the most inexpensive yet effective beauty products I've ever used. I highly recommend their ten second pimple vanishers and bruise removal paste." She said to me.

Fred and George's shop. I had wanted to check it out for a while, and I'm sure I could still get by with avoiding Fred. Fred had informed me they had shop assistants, and I'm sure he and his twin brother don't spend every waking hour in the shop. It's also a Saturday afternoon; it would be very busy there.

The woman took my silence as me being shocked, and just pat my shoulder and told me to try it before moving on, and leaving the shop. I quickly went to the counter, purchased my items, turning down the five upsells the cashier tried to sell me and hurried out the store and down the alley, until I stumbled upon the magnificent store.

I admired the outside, but hastily stepped into the store as I realised I was on a tight schedule if I wanted to have enough time to pretty myself up for tonight.

It was hard not to be distracted by the inside, however. The store was massive, much bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. There were hundreds of products scattered around, each of them having a proud display, all coming together to make lots of noises, and colourful displays. Everywhere you stepped you would get distracted to look at something else.

"Well, well, well…if it isn't the sister in law. Finally coming to see the shop?" I heard a voice say, and I was able to focus my attention to see George standing in front of me smirking.

"See, George you have an unfair advantage. If I made jokes about you being my brother in law it would considered creepy." I said to George, putting my hands on my hips.

"Don't worry love, Percy would marry you today if you asked him. You're all he ever talks about. I think you actually broke up him and the ministry, considering he barely talks about work anymore." George joked, and I blushed red at the positive remark.

"Pfft, don't mind him Carly. George hasn't had relations with a girl in a while, that's why he's having a joke about poor old Percy." Fred laughed, appearing out of nowhere.

"Like you're doing any better with the ladies Fred!" George argued, and I cast an uncomfortable sidewards look to Fred, who only sent a wink back. I felt my face heat up again.

"I'd invite you guys out tonight, but I'm going to a muggle club with my best friend Ellen." I stated.

"Is she hot?" George blurted out.

I could see Fred open his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it when he realised the situation in which he met Ellen was secret, or at least was meant to be. I didn't know how much he had told George about us, or if he had told him anything at all but I didn't care. As long as it never got back to Percy, I was all set.

"Um, I don't know. I've never really looked at her in that way. But she's definitely not ugly. You're more than welcome to come tonight, both of you. But just be wary this is a muggle nightclub. You'll need muggle money, muggle attire and most of all, act like a muggle. Reckon you boys can do it?" I smirked, unsure how this information would settle with the twins.

"George, she doesn't think we can act like muggles. Shall we prove her wrong?" Fred asked his twin brother, a coy look on his face.

"Fred, of course we will. We'll be so convincing you'll be convinced we are muggles!" George replied.

"Alright. Ellen and I are having pre-pre drinks at my house, then we're heading off to a pub called The Lion at about nine for pre-drinks. Then we're heading out to the club." I explained.

"Pre drinks?" Fred asked.

"Pre pre drinks?" George added on.

I sighed, and shook my head.

"Alcohol is expensive. So you need to drink as much as you can stand before you head out, in order to buy less. Hence why you have pre drinks. However Ellen and I always like going to the pub before we go clubbing, you meet interesting people. So the first pre drinks is considered 'pre pre drinks' as it comes before pre drinks. With me now?" I asked.

Fred and George looked at each other, and then sent me a look of disbelief.

"I will never, ever understand muggle customs." George replied, and I poked my tongue out at him.

"Great, so it's settled. We'll meet you guys at The Lion at around nine. If you need to contact me and you decide to owl me, please be discreet. Ellen knows nothing about the magic world; she doesn't even know it exists. I'll give her a call when I get home and let her know I have a guy to set her up with, and then when we meet up this date can go under way." I beamed, but inside I was nervous. The reason why I was so nervous was so ridiculous, even if history were to repeat itself – well it couldn't. It was impossible.

"I think Lee wanted to hang out tonight, you know what, I'll invite him too. If you and Carly's friend are going to snog all night, might as well have someone else to hang out with too to replace you." Fred sneered at George, but then smiled to show he was joking…well, half joking.

I had to smile at this, but there was no way I would verbalise the relief that Fred had just given me. Not only would it be awkward to just be one on one after our incident, the pressures of his twin being on a date with my best friend would be awkward. It would feel like a double date, which could end badly. If it was a group outing, I could actually have a fun night, and not worry about what Percy may think, or Percy even finding out at all.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey guys, I had this chapter done a few days ago but I needed to proof read it. A lot of bad things has happened in the past few days, and I haven't been home to update. Sorry for the wait, and as always thank you to my number one reader emmawatsonfan1 for her continued support.

* * *

I could have killed Ellen. It was so like her, I should have given some extra time and told the boys to meet us at the pub a little later. Ellen texted me saying she'd be over at nine instead of eight – I could have had time to organise an owl to be sent to the twins as I did not have one, or even go see them and let them know to come later. But she texted me just before eight.

Ellen was the kind of girl that expected the world to wait on her hand and foot. When we both lived in Doncaster, the public transport was definitely not as sophisticated as it is in London. There's obviously no tube, and the bus schedule is quite slow. Whenever we'd need to catch public transport she'd always text me at the last minute saying she was going to be late, and when I got angry she'd tell me to chill and everything would be okay. It usually wasn't, we'd miss the public transport and be stranded for hours, and usually we would have to cancel our existing plans if we hadn't left our origin yet.

Even in adulthood this trend was continuing. I'd ask her to be over a certain time, and she'd say she would be, but then would text me saying she'd be over anytime during a large time frame, sending the text when she was already meant to be at my apartment. I found it really rude, she always insisted on staying at my place every time we went out, so she'd have to stop by mine before we headed in order for her to leave her belongings in my apartment. If she wasn't staying here I could just meet her out and she could take the time in getting to our destination. Next time it happens I think I'll just tell her to make her own way into the city.

At least it gave me more time to study, however. I used the levitating charm to levitate my book to read, as I was getting ready.

I wasn't one of those girls that take a long time to get ready, but at the same time I did take a considerable amount of time and couldn't make fun of girls that take a while to get ready. Magic had cut this time in half though, the hot air charm dried my hair in thirty seconds, and magic cosmetics were a lot easier to apply than muggle cosmetics.

Tonight I finally got to wear my black halter dress. I had always wanted a black halter dress and because of that I was picky with how it had to look. So I went to Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions to get one custom made. I decided to go with a wizarding store rather than a muggle store as it was the same price either way, and the wizarding store offered inbuilt charms such as anti-stain and anti-rip. It was a very sexy dress, hugging curves in the right places and being quite low cut.

I had gotten it custom made months ago, and I was going to wear it on the Saturday after I got it back. However two days later I met Percy Weasley, and we made dinner plans that Saturday. Then after I started dating Percy I stopped going out. This is the first time I will have gone out clubbing since I met Percy.

I decided to straighten my hair. It was the look I always wore, but it was so simple. Whenever I curl my hair it's a big hit or miss, and I always end up regretting it anyway. Straight hair suits me.

I decided to wear black ankle strap heels, diamond stud earrings I received from one of my Death Eater cousins when I was eleven when he was trying to move away from Voldemort but failed, a silver Tiffany's necklace from one of my exes and some sterling silver bracelets.

Unlike a lot of people, I could keep jewellery from my past. Other things I got rid of, such as photos and other sentimental items. I ask people not to get me jewellery as I barely wear it, even when I go out. I was only going all out tonight, as this was the first time wearing a dress I had been wanting for years. If exes or family members bought me jewellery they obviously didn't know me very well, so I didn't consider it sentimental enough to be something I had to get rid of.

My make-up probably took the longest. I went all out. Firstly I got my skin ready by applying the Ten Second Pimple Vanisher. Then I washed and toned my skin and applied a facemask and washed it off ten minutes later. The next step was to put on some primer. Then I applied concealer, foundation, blush, and a hint of bronzer, very sexy smoky eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara.

I stepped back and looked into the mirror at my masterpiece. I admit that I looked damn good. I was glad that Fred, George and their friend Lee was coming, because guys tend to stay away from larger groups, especially with other males present. If it were just Ellen and I we would be rejecting guys left, right and centre.

I hate saying that, I really do. I sound very conceited. But I knew I was good looking, at least right now. If I had just woken up and had no make up on, that would be another story. Low self-esteem does not just affect how you feel about your appearance.

I then congratulated myself on a job well down by setting my textbook down, and headed out to my lounge room to put on a DVD and have a few glasses of wine whilst I wait for Ellen.

* * *

Ellen finally got to my house, at five past nine. She came in and dumped her things, and stared at me expectantly. I just turned around, turned off the lights and headed out the door.

"Wait!" Ellen called, standing in the same position giving me a pouty look "Weren't we going to do pre drinks first?"

"We were," I stated, giving out a sigh "But then you called to say you would be late. We were meant to be meeting the guys seven minutes ago, and we still have yet to leave."

"Oh." Ellen replied, looking dejected.

I let out an annoyed growl, and I went to the kitchen and turned the lights on. Ellen gave me a look to show she was scared and uncomfortable, as I had never been completely angry with her before. I was at wits end with her however, I was scared the boys would get bored and leave.

I grabbed two water bottles that were in my recycling bin, rinsed them out, and poured in vodka. I grabbed some lemonade from my fridge, and topped the bottles up with vodka. It was hard not to use magic to make the process quicker, but I called out 'catch' to Ellen before throwing her bottle at her.

I turned the lights off, and headed out the door quickly.

No words were spoken to us as we got into the elevator and out the door of the apartment; it was when we were sipping our water bottles full of vodka that she finally spoke up.

"Sorry for being late. I had issues getting here with my mum, and stuff." Ellen quietly replied, and I could see she felt bad. I started feeling a little bad for blowing up at her, and just turned to smile at her.

"It's okay. It's just that we were meant to meet the boys at nine, and I um, um, haven't been able to contact them to tell them." I replied, not being able to think up an excuse as to why in this modern day and age three twenty one year old boys would not have a mobile phone. I could get away with one not having one, maybe two at the most. But not all three.

"Why not?" Ellen curiously asked, and I knew I had to think of an excuse now.

"Okay, so Fred and George the twins run a business. They have expensive phones for doing so, and don't want to damage them by taking them out. Lee is their friend, who I haven't met so I don't have his number." I stammered out, and Ellen just nodded to what I was saying.

Phew, off the hook. The simplest lies are the most believable, and the easiest to follow through with.

Now that Ellen knew I wasn't annoyed at her, she felt it was safe to talk to me without me getting annoyed. So I was hearing her spout about the latest in her life, with me giving replies every now and again.

We got to the pub in record time; even with Ellen whining that her heels were making her feet hurt walking at a fast pace. I only rolled my eyes at this. The amount of heels I had worn in my life was something I could count to on one hand and I was walking at a fast pace completely fine. She was just being a drama queen.

When we got to the pub, I went to open the door but Ellen grabbed me and held me back. I shot her a weird look, and she spoke.

"Let's just…wait for a while, shall we?" She asked me.

"Why?" I asked, cocking up an eyebrow.

This was also something she did often. When she didn't know how to approach a situation or she was nervous, she'd grab me and remove us from the situation. If she told me that she was nervous or didn't know what to do it would be completely fine. Instead she tried to look brave and um, cute? She'd say we should 'wait' or 'slow down' or whatever. When I'd ask her to please elaborate, she'd go silent or change the topic. I wasn't going to let her do it this time, not when the twins and their friend were waiting.

"We should be fashionably late, if this is a date after all." She meekly replied.

"You're the only one on the date with George. I'm going to chill with Fred and Lee. You can be fashionably late all you want, but we're already over half an hour late. You can stay out here, I'll let them know you're on your way." I stated, and made my way into the pub.


	11. Chapter 11

**Fred's Point of View**

After waiting for a while, and already downing a few beers, Lee was starting to get a little bit impatient. He hadn't met Carly like George and I had, but none of them knew her as well as I did. None of them also knew how well I knew her.

When we hit the half hour mark even George was beginning to wonder if the girls were showing up, or if we had been stood up. I meekly defended Carly, but I didn't want to go too far because George and Lee might think it would be suspicious that I'd defend Carly that far.

Everything turned out all right though, because not too long after George started having doubts Carly entered the pub and immediately approached our table. I could see she was mildly annoyed, but the others didn't pick up on it.

She engulfed George and I in one big group hug and gave us a peck on the cheek, and then surprised me by doing the same to Lee, who had a big grin on his face as he introduced himself.

"So, where is my date?" George asked Carly.

"Your date? YOUR DATE is the reason why I'm so late. I am usually timed and orderly and you would know that, but she-" Carly stated, loudly emphasising 'your date' but before she could finish a girl timidly approached our table and stood behind Carly.

This girl wasn't ugly, but at the same time she wasn't attractive. She was probably chubby, but she had chosen nice clothes to hide her figure. She was on the shorter side, much shorter than Carly. George and I weren't overly tall, but we were still a tad taller than the average male, so Carly's friend was much shorter than George. She had blonde hair that had been lazily pinned back, and it was quite oily. She had on a minimal amount of make-up. All in all she was rather plain looking, and would probably look a lot better if she put more effort into her appearance. Good on her though I suppose, not conforming to society's standards for women.

"Oh! Hey Ellen. Um, this is Fred, George and Lee. George is um, my friend that you'll probably be friendly with. He's the one in the plain green shirt." Carly said to her friend, pointing out George.

"Got it." She said to Carly, nervously looking at George and I to spot any differences she may need to know if she can't see our clothing. Good luck, even our own mother has difficulty telling us apart.

"Guys, this is Ellen. She's been my best friend since year seven." Carly stated, waving her hand towards Ellen, George and Lee muttered 'hellos' and I could tell they were trying to calculate what year that would be in Hogwarts terms.

"Carly, let's go to the toilet!" Ellen giggled, tugging on Carly's arm. Carly rolled her eyes and sighed, but followed her friend Ellen into the toilet.

We all watched them leave, and as soon as they were out of eyesight and earshot, we all leaned in to begin talking about the two girls.

"She's not my type." George simply stated, not even bothering to put it lightly.

"Ellen, your date? Or Carly, the girl that you both know. Because damn, Carly would be anyone's type. She's hot." Lee whistled, prompting George and I to exchange a glance. The look on George's face was worry, but he broke out into a grin when he saw my smirk.

"Lee my friend." I began.

"I would not even go there. She's taken." George said to Lee.

"Aw, man. All the good girls are always taken. Who snagged her?" Lee asked, sounding disappointed and lowering his head in defeat.

George sent me a look again, and I just winked at him. As George and I were getting ready we decided to not tell Lee whom she was going out with until after he met her.

On my first impression of Carly she looked exactly like the kind of girl that Percy would go after. But after getting to know her, and seeing her dress in more of a natural environment, her attractiveness seemed to grow. I'm not sure whether it's because I got to know her true personality, or her more casual wear on our outings made her look prettier, but she was definitely a lot more attractive to me now. That scares me a little.

"You'll find out in due time." I replied, and Lee only sent me a shrug as he turned to George, obviously finding the upcoming topic more interesting.

"So you're not interested in your blind date? How are you going to get out of this one?" Lee smirked, and I nodded, also interested in how this would all pan out.

"I dunno, I guess I should get to know her first. I'll buy her a drink and talk to her a little bit, but as for first impressions, definitely not my type." George replied, leaning on the table and I could see he didn't really want to go through with this, but because he was the nicer twin it was in his nature to go through with this.

I opened my mouth to inform George about how I felt about Carly when I first met her, and how I feel about her now but I quickly shut my mouth. Carly was not my girlfriend, or anything more than a friend to me now. Using that example would not make George feel better about his current situation. In fact, it would just make me look bad and make it look like I felt something towards Carly I shouldn't have, when I only think she's pretty.

"Guess it's just me and you then bro, trying to pick up." Lee said to me, preparing his fist for a fist pump with my own. I bumped his fist apathetically, and it was then that Carly and Ellen returned.

"Hey Ellen, let's go to the bar, I'll buy you a drink." George muttered, jumping off his bar stool. Ellen looked excited as she followed him through the crowd towards the bar, not before beaming a bright smile at Carly, who gave her a thumbs up as she jumped onto the bar stool where George previously sat.

"Don't get too excited, he's not that into her. He said she's not his type." I said to Carly, who sent me a smile.

"No worries. She said the same thing in the bathroom, which is quite odd because the one time she saw you she said you were cute. But I suppose thinking someone your friend is hanging out with is cute, and someone you're supposed to date yourself is cute is two different things." Carly replied, wrinkling her nose in confusion, which I unfortunately found utterly adorable.

"So why were you late anyway?" Lee asked, looking quite bored and looked as if he wanted to start up conversation.

"Um, I'm not entirely sure. Ellen texted me really late notice; saying she'd be at my place at nine, the time I was meant to meet up with you guys. I don't have an owl, so I couldn't owl you guys to let you know so I raced here with her as soon as possible. I really am sorry." Carly pouted.

"I think we'll let it slide this time, right Fred?" Lee asked leaning to me "But I didn't know you were a witch"

"Oh, I guess the twins haven't told you much about me then?" Carly asked Lee.

"Nope, nothing. All they've said is you're off limits, but they wouldn't tell me who you're dating. I would like to know, I'm quite curious now." Lee asked Carly.

"Oh, okay. Um, yeah I'm a witch but I didn't go to Hogwarts. Ellen is a muggle though; so don't let your guard down around her. And I'm dating Fred's brother." Carly stated, answering Lee's questions.

"Wow, Charlie finally got a girlfriend? How is the long distance thing working out?" Lee asked Carly, and I actually let out a laugh as I felt second-hand embarrassment for him.

"Actually, no. I'm Percy's girlfriend." Carly giggled, and Lee nearly spat at his drink as his eyes bugged out of his head at what Carly revealed.

"Well, that's quite embarrassing. Excuse me whilst I go to the bar to get a drink and hope that by the time I get back the conversation topic has changed." Lee stated, quickly jumping off his stool and barging through crowds to the bar.

I shook my head at Lee and smiled, and then turned to Carly.

"Then there were two." She said to me, and I sent her a warm smile.

"So the current trend seems to be awkwardly slinking away to the bar to escape said awkward moments." I stated.

"Yes, but it doesn't seem to be going too well for them. Shall we be unfashionable and actually go to the bar in a stylish manner, not to escape awkwardness but because we are awesome individuals?" Carly asked, offering her arm to me.

"Yes, we shall." I replied, grabbing onto her arm as we made our way from the table to the bar.

As the pub was quite packed, it was hard to keep holding her arm. She noticed this as she led the way and quickly slid her hand down my arm to grasp my hand tightly in hers. I then noticed her appearance for the first time tonight.

I instantly felt bad at not noticing her appearance because she looked really good. But I was a little tipsy, when she walked in I was too relieved she showed up to notice, and when we were talking I was trying too hard to not look suspicious to the others that I might possibly have a crush on my older brother's girlfriend.

I had never seen her wear anything figure hugging, even in her conservative and street wear she dressed modestly. But her figure hugging dress showed off a perfect hourglass figure. That, and her pretty face made her look amazing. No wonder why everyone seems to think she is out of Percy's league, she seems to be out of any Weasley's league.

We made it to the bar and we dropped hands as she put her arms on the bar, as I got out my wallet.

"Alright, well, I'll buy you a drink. What do you want?" I asked Carly, who immediately furrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"I don't let guys buy me drinks. Not because I'm stuck up or because I'm afraid of being drugged. I do not believe in the theory that a male has to buy a girl's attention in the form of alcohol. Any girl who lets a guy buy them a drink is a prostitute, but cheaper." Carly scowled in a well-rehearsed statement, but it made me grin.

Even in the wizarding world there was still that stereotype that guys had to buy a girl a drink in order to continue a conversation or advance romantically that night. The fact that Carly, a gorgeous girl who could have any man shower her with gifts was refusing to let a guy buy her a drink on moral grounds, well she was making it a lot harder to not fall for her.

"Then don't stress, I'm buying you a drink because we're friends." I said to her, getting the bar tender's attention.

Yep, that's right. Carly and I are only friends.


	12. Chapter 12

After a few drinks in the pub, we all decided it was probably best to move on to the next venue.

Nothing really interesting happened at the pub. I got a lot of stares from desperate men, but luckily none of them acted on anything as they assumed I was with Fred or Lee, as I was spending all my time with them.

Things did not improve between Ellen and George. They tried hard to talk and see if they had anything in common. They didn't, so the few conversations they were able to start fell flat almost instantly.

Ellen had once admitted to me that I was knowledgeable, and out of the two of us I was the one to create conversations with new people. I had to agree, I was probably more cultured, but she was the nice girl who would hang onto every word that you said. She was a listener.

Listeners did not go well with the Weasley twins. They needed people to be just as involved in the conversations; they thrived for new ideas and feedback. George and Ellen were just not compatible, but they were still trying to at least make small talk. If they had to be in each other's presences regularly they could at least make a few conversations to get by, which is probably what they were trying for.

By the time we were walking towards the new club, George had joined Fred, Lee and I at the front and we were all chattering about random topics that came to our heads, the conversations flowing. Ellen looked a little hurt that we could all talk so freely, and before I could drop behind the boys and giggle about something with her, Lee had done just that with her.

The club had a bit of a line, but we didn't care as we joined the line and spoke in our small group. I watched as some girls tried to do the opposite.

They walked up to the door and begged to skip the line to the bouncer. I narrowed my eyes at them. As I was a firm believer in rules and regulations, people who try and push in really annoy me. It's a social structure, and if everyone pushed in there would be anarchy. Oh god, I really do sound like Percy Weasley's girlfriend.

To my delight though, the bouncers refused them entry and told them to go to the back of the line. They argued, but then angrily stomped to go behind us in the line. I gave Ellen a look, but decided not to comment on these girls' behaviour.

Before I could join the conversation with the boys again, the girls behind us started talking loudly.

"As if we get rejected! This club is so stupid! I told the bouncer he was gay, he clearly is. They always let us jump the line!" One of the girls loudly screamed, a few people in the front of the line looking over at how loud they were.

They lowered their voices but continued to screech loud enough that I could hear them clearly as I was just in front of them in the line.

"I know. We're clearly the hottest girls in the line." The second one piped up, and they all let out annoying giggles.

Even Fred, George and Lee were now looking at the girls in disbelief.

I rolled my eyes and snuck a quick look at them. I couldn't say they were completely ugly, but hardly 'the hottest girls in the line' they were freakishly tall, not that there's anything wrong with being tall as I am above the average height, but they were also stick thin, with plain looking faces, and make-up looking like it was shovelled on. They looked like they were the kinds of girls that slept with a guy after he bought her three drinks, and because they were easy they believed themselves to be sought after.

There were many pretty girls at the front of the line, natural beauties. Those naturally pretty girls obviously didn't feel the need to push in and try and use their looks.

However, it was the third girl that got me the angriest.

"I know, right. Look at these two disgusting girls in front of us. Disgusting!" The third girl said, but quickly looked horrified when I turned around and gave her the dirtiest look I could muster, and her friends, whilst giggling, shushed her and ignored my gaze.

Her words, and her attitude bought out a lot of ugly emotions inside of me. Anger, disgust, sadness were the emotions I felt the most. I felt angry and disgusted that these girls had to resort to saying bad things about me to make themselves feel better that they got rejected to skip the queue. But after years and years of being picked on for my appearance during my school years, it was understandable that the comment hit me hard.

As anger and sadness ran through my body for a brief few seconds, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to turn around and hit them, and even gripped my purse, tempted to pull my wand out and hex them. When the anger dripped from my body, the disgust made me want to turn around and make fun of their lack of intelligence. But then the sadness hit me, and I just turned around and moped.

Fred saw this, and squeezed my shoulder.

"I'll hex them, if you like. I know a lot of nasty ones, that could show their appearance as their nasty insides, not that their appearance is even anything special." Fred whispered to me.

"I considered it. I considered splitting their dresses open, or using a spell to wipe their make up off or something. But we could get into trouble with the Ministry for using a spell on a muggle, in a dense muggle area. Besides, it would be a little pathetic to hex someone just because they said a mean comment about me. You see unlike them, I'm secure enough that I don't need to resort to low tactics. So yeah, I'm good." I weakly smiled.

"Good." Fred smiled back, kissing the top of my head.

I blushed deeply when George and Lee gave us weird looks, and Ellen gave me a nudge. They had not missed that one. I was going to splutter out something as a save, but decided to just write this one off and smooth over the moment.

Luckily, we were let in soon after.

In the club everyone had gotten split up. Well, maybe they were all together. I had definitely lost everyone else.

I downed a drink at the bar, talking awkwardly to a guy a little older than me who was moving closer to me every few minutes. I didn't think it was wrong he was coming onto me, I hadn't rejected him yet. But I didn't want to cause a huge scene and needed his company until I could find my friends. I at least chose to use body language to show I wasn't interested, but he had yet to take the hint. I downed a glass of wine and tequila shot, and excused myself to the bathroom

After doing my business, I exited and saw a familiar face. Not somebody in my group, but a guy called Joey. He was in my school class, back during my school days. It was a little awkward seeing him as I hadn't seem him since graduation party when I got wasted, made out with him and he begged me for sex in an empty classroom. When he wouldn't take no for an answer I told him to go find one and I'd meet him there, and I ran to the nearest taxi rank and went home. I'd spoken to him on social media websites and we'd been civil, so I was still a little surprised when he completely ignored me when I said hi to him. After all, we'd been out of school for a while now.

I shrugged my shoulders and walked off, and I felt someone grab me. I turned around to see Ellen there, grinning.

"I need to talk to you. Let's go to the bathroom." Ellen said to me.

"But I just went there!" I protested, but she had already bounded off. I followed her, not wanting to be by myself again.

Instead of going into the actual bathroom though, she pulled me into the deserted hallway near a fire exit, so that we could hear each other and not be surrounded by giggling girls.

"Look, I'm sorry but George and I-" Ellen began, but my laughing cut her off.

"It's cool. It's not going to happen. I think we've all come to that realisation." I grinned, and Ellen breathed out a sigh of relief.

"But his friend Lee is really cool! Do you reckon George would mind?" Ellen asked me.

I had to think about it for a second. Although Fred and George were nearly identical in every way, their personalities did differ in a few ways. Fred was the more ruthless of the two, and although he was a great guy and understanding, he seemed to feel a little less empathy than George did. George seemed a little more level-headed.

"Um, it depends how you try and court Lee. I'd suggest not doing it in front of George, and don't make it like you're trying to make him jealous or something. Lee is his best friend, and he'd understand and be happy for him. If it was Fred, it may be a bit different though." I explained to Ellen.

"You and Fred seem to be getting pretty close." Ellen winked at me, and I turned a bright shade of red.

"Yeah, well we're good friends. We understand each other, on a completely platonic level." I quickly replied. It was true, Fred understood me a lot better than most people. I just knew that I held some kind of emotion for Fred that I probably shouldn't, even though I didn't quite know what it was.

Ellen, obviously bored of the conversation just sent me a nod, and changed the topic.

"So do you think you can work your magic, and get Lee and I closer?" Ellen asked.

In my semi-drunk state I had to laugh at her choice of words. Every single one of her hook ups was initiated by me bringing the two closer together. Ellen called it 'my magic' but in reality I didn't even have to bother using magic. Of course Ellen knew that as she had no idea magic even exists, but I hadn't even had to slip a guy a love potion. I just knew how to convince a drunken guy to go try his chances with Ellen, it was quite easy. I'm sure my methods could work on Lee.

"Okay, here is the game plan. We're going to go to the bar. We're going to buy a glass of wine each, and you're going to buy two shots of tequila, one for you and one for me. We will down our tequila shots at the bar, and then make our way through the crowd to find the boys. On our quest to find them we will probably get a lot of stares, and even a few will hit on us. But we will take the compliments and let ourselves gain an ego boost, as it will help us bring you and Lee together." I grinned, making my way past her so we could re-enter the crowd.


End file.
